Tuesday, 5 June 2012

Is the Queen a secret budo practitioner?

Photo By DAVID MOIR/REUTERS

Even if you’re not British you probably can’t have helped
noticing that it is the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations at the moment – I’m
sure highlights of the various events have been screened around the world…

Sixty years on the throne! – She’s only the second Monarch
in British history to have achieved such a long reign (Queen Victoria being the
other one at 63 years). As you can
imagine Britain is feeling pretty patriotic at the moment – lots of ‘Land of
Hope and Glory’, ‘Rule Britannia’ and ‘God Save the Queen’ being sung and the
Union Flag being flown and waved around on every street. There have been
thousands of street parties and over 4000 beacons lit and that’s just in the
UK. Celebrations have gone on around the Commonwealth too – she is their Queen
too, after all.

The Queen is a very special person. Even if you are not a
monarchist you have to accept that as a woman the Queen is an exceptional
person. She has devoted herself
tirelessly to serve the people of the UK and Commonwealth. The Queen is now 86 and yet she still carries
out around 430 engagements a year. She has an amazing work ethic don’t you
think? For most of these she is accompanied by her husband the Duke of
Edinburgh who is nearly 91!

She is a constant presence in an ever changing world – an anchor,
a link to our past. She has witnessed many Heads of State from other countries come
and go with repeated regularity. She has given wise counsel to many a British
Prime Minister. She reminds us what it means to be British.

I also think she could teach us a thing or two about budo!

Let’s take this weekend’s celebrations as an example….. On
Saturday we had the Pageant on the Thames. A flotilla of a thousand boats
sailed down the Thames which took about 4 hours. The Queen and her family witnessed
the event from the Royal Barge. They stood for the entire time to watch the
event, with only a flimsy roof to shield them from the elements. They must have
been freezing yet they didn’t flinch from their duty to watch every single boat
go past. People had sailed from all over the world to be part of the pageant
and they didn’t want to let her down and the Queen certainly wasn’t going to
let them down by not watching just because it was cold, windy and raining! They
couldn’t even take a loo break which isn’t easy for a couple aged 86 and 91!
(Unfortunately that is probably the reason that the Duke was hospitalised with
a bladder infection the next day). The Queen remained upright, stoical and
interested throughout the whole pageant.

If that wasn’t a display of shugyo I don’t know what is!

The Queen displays many of the characteristics you would
expect to see in someone who has practiced budo all their lives – she is
physically strong for her age, she is focussed on her work, devoted to her
family, she shows humility and compassion, she is knowledgeable and wise, calm
and stoical, trustworthy and respectful of others….the list goes on. Her life
has been one of perseverance and selfless endeavour. She even stayed calm and de-escalated the
situation when an intruder broke into her bedroom at Buckingham Palace in 1982!

I think the Queen is a woman to be admired and the British
Monarchy an institution to be envied. Nowhere else has what we have here in
Britain, we would be mad to get rid of it. I have no truck with the tiny
republican movement we have in this country. There have been a couple of small
republican protests during this weekend of celebrations (after all it is a free
country). Guess where they held their protest – outside Traitors gate!

Bloody poms :), making such a fuss because she's held her job when she couldn't get sacked. Oh, and it's no wonder Scotland want to secede given the original lyrics to the national anthem included crushing the Scots. But when all is said and done, she does present an image that is difficult not to admire.

Brett, fortunately the Queens's role is apolitical so she can just steer the ship straight and forwards in calm seas instead of zigzaging the choppy sea of popular opinion and political pressure. Our Prime Minister is not so fortunate - his ship is turning in circles at the moment he's made so many u-turns!

I think if that intruder had entered Prince Phillips bedroom instead he would definitely got 'messed up'...

Journeyman, You're right, budo should be reflected in all areas of our lives...

John or is that 'skip' ;-) You nearly cracked at the end didn't you? "..she does present an image that is difficult not to admire". Go on, admit it, you're a Royalist at heart! She's your Queen too you know...